ABSTRACT
The purpose of this quantitative study is to understand the role that character education curriculum, specifically the Leader in Me, plays on overall elementary school culture. The primary question guiding this study is, has the implementation of Leader in Me provided any measurable impact on elementary school culture prior to and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic? The review of the literature demonstrates a rich history of character education throughout the history of education and the impact that it plays on self-efficacy, school culture, and student achievement. This study intends to investigate the impact that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had on elementary school culture and determine whether the implementation of Leader in Me provided better conditions for positive school culture. In order to achieve this overall objective, the following research questions framed this quantitative study: 1. What is the relationship between the length of implementation of the Leader in Me character education curriculum on elementary school culture? 2. What impact did the implementation of the Leader in Me character education curriculum play on elementary school culture prior to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic? 3. What impact did the implementation of the Leader in Me character education curriculum play on elementary school culture during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic?A quantitative approach has been chosen for this study to examine the impact that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had on elementary school culture and determine if the implementation of Leader in Me provided any benefit. Archival data was utilized to provide a foundation for the analysis of the data through the utilization of the 5Essentials Survey and the Measurable Results Assessment. The study also utilized an independently created survey to measure the school culture of schools that have and have not implemented Leader in Me. The data included responses from staff and administrators at 817 elementary schools across Northern Illinois. Statistical tests were conducted to determine the impact that the implementation of Leader in Me may have on elementary school culture.While this study was unable to replicate the results of prior studies regarding the impact that Leader in Me plays on school culture, it did find a statistically significant difference in school culture during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Furthermore, the research concluded that regardless of the implementation of Leader in Me, school culture was negatively impacted during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.Recommendations from this study include the need to analyze school culture following the pandemic to understand the true impact of Leader in Me during the pandemic, utilize a greater population size in order to provide more generalized results, and consider the use of a mixed methods study to gain a greater understanding as to why respondents perceive their school culture to be the way that it is. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)